Alsace, région of France, encompassing the northeastern départements of Haut-Rhin (“Upper Rhine”) and Bas-Rhin (“Lower Rhine”) and roughly coextensive with the historical region of Alsace. It is bounded by the régions of Lorraine to the west and Franche-Comté to the southwest. Switzerland lies to the south and Germany borders it to the east and north. The capital is Strasbourg. Area 3,197 square miles (8,280 square km). Pop. (1999) 1,734,145; (2008 est.) 1,837,087.

Confluence of the branches of the Ill River, Strasbourg, Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine …

Geography

Natural boundaries in Alsace include the Vosges Mountains to the west and the Rhine River to the east. The massif of the Vosges gradually gives way eastward to the plain of Alsace, while to the south the region of Sundgau in southern Haut-Rhin rises to the Jura Mountains. Alsace is one of the more fertile regions in central Europe. The hills are generally richly wooded, chiefly with fir, beech, and oak. Annual precipitation is relatively low, ranging from 20 to 28 inches (500 to 700 mm).

Alsace has a growing population, the result of both natural and migrational increase; Bas-Rhin is the more dynamic of the région’s two départements. Outside the Vosges massif, Alsace is densely populated (twice the national average) and has a well-developed urban network dominated by the cities of Strasbourg, Mulhouse, and Colmar. Rural population densities are also among the highest in France.

Alsace has a rich, highly intensive agriculture characterized by small farms. This is particularly true of the vineyards that dominate the foothills of the Vosges. Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Sylvaner, Auxerrois, and Pinot Blanc are among the notable white wines produced. Colmar is the principal centre of the wine-growing region, whose vineyards extend in a narrow strip along the lower slopes of the Vosges west of the city. Parts of the alluvial plain of Alsace (e.g., west of Strasbourg) are devoted to cereals, but industrial crops are also widely cultivated and include sugar beets, hops, and tobacco. The région is also known for its asparagus and foie gras.

The industrial economy of Alsace is strong and diversified. Textile manufacturing, based in and around Mulhouse, is one of the région’s oldest industries, though now it has little importance. Machinery production, in part related to textiles, and food and beverage industries (milling, brewing, canning) are also long established. More recent industries include automobile assembly and component manufacture, pharmaceuticals, electronics, and telecommunications. Much of the investment in industry originates outside France, notably in Germany, Japan, and the United States. A large number of workers from Alsace commute to factories in Germany and Switzerland. The service sector has grown rapidly in fields such as retailing, business services, higher education, and research. Strasbourg in particular has benefited from this trend.

A network of motorways traverses Alsace, and a regional airport is located in Strasbourg. There is also an extensive port and industrial zone bordering the Rhine. Apart from its use as a waterway, the Rhine is used to generate hydroelectric power, and a nuclear power station stands on its banks at Fessenheim.

History

The area was conquered by the Roman legions of Julius Caesar in the 1st century bce and had been profoundly Romanized by the time of the invasion of the Alemanni in the 5th century ce. The Alemanni, however, were conquered by the Franks under Clovis in 496, and Alsace became a Frankish duchy. Under Merovingian rule the area was Christianized and colonized.

Alsace was incorporated into Lotharingia in the mid-9th century and was united with the German territories of the Carolingians by the Treaty of Mersen (870). It was attached to what became known as the Holy Roman Empire until the 17th century. During that period its territory was divided into a number of secular and ecclesiastical lordships and municipalities, which remained significant until the French Revolution. The medieval period was also marked by the growing importance of its cities—e.g., Strasbourg, Colmar, and Haguenau, which, with the support of the emperors, gradually freed themselves from their feudal overlords.

Protestantism made important gains in Alsace during the Reformation, and Strasbourg, where the reformer Martin Bucer was especially prominent, became the centre of Alsatian Protestantism. That city’s Protestant influence was countered, however, by the resolute Roman Catholicism of the Habsburgs, who tried to eradicate heresy in upper Alsace.

French influence began to be felt in Alsace late in the 16th century, during the Wars of Religion. This influence grew during the Thirty Years’ War, when the Alsatian cities, caught between the opposing Catholic and Protestant sides and feeling their liberties threatened, appealed to France for help. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) gave France an informal protectorate over Alsace, and full control was established during the reign of Louis XIV, after the French had occupied Strasbourg in 1681.

In the 18th century Alsace enjoyed considerable autonomy under the French crown, and Alsatians took advantage of their status outside the French customs system to develop a flourishing transit trade. The administrative incorporation of Alsace into France was completed by the French Revolution (1789), when the area was administratively divided into the two départements of Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin, and its existence as a separate province was ended. The people of Alsace continued to speak a German dialect known as Alsatian, but the use of French spread among the upper classes.

From 1815 to 1870 Alsace actively participated in French national life. The introduction of universal suffrage (1848) and the building of railways helped to bind France and its eastern frontier province closely together. These links were shattered at the end of the Franco-German War (1870–71), however, when Alsace was detached from France and annexed to the German Empire. (For the history of Alsace under German rule, seeAlsace-Lorraine.)

Following the defeat of Germany in World War I, Alsace was returned to France under the Treaty of Versailles, along with part of the région of Lorraine. During the interwar years, German influence remained strong in the two recovered régions, and in the early 1940s Alsace was once again annexed by Germany, for the duration of World War II. In the postwar years, however, French hegemony reclaimed Alsace, though some cultural ties to Germany remained.

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